Apparatus for automatically joining the ends of slivers



April 25, 1967 MASAAKI KOBAYASHI ETAL 3,

APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY JOINING THE ENDS OF 'SLIVERS Filed Nov. 12,1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS NHSHHKI KOBHYHsHI j YOSHIKHTSMMHTSL/(MOTO ATTORNEYS April 1967 MASAAKI KOBAYASHI ETAL 3,

APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY JOINING THE ENDS OF SLIVERS Filed Nov. 12,1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Him W m:

m L R Li) C N a Q R 0) ATTORNEYS P 1967 MASAAKI KOBAYASHI ETAL 3,315,321

APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY JOINING THE ENDS OF SLIVERS Filed Nov. 12,1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig. 3

| Ill INVENTORS MASHHHI KOBHYHSHI l sHrKnv-sq MRTsuMoTO B/JMQ; LOMWWWWATTORNEY5 April 1967 MASAAKI KOBAYASHI ETAL 3,315,321

APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY JOINING THE ENDS OF SLIVERS INVEH'TORSMHSHHKI K08!) YflSHI maul-Kn Tsu l mrsumo Ta Bylmu, wvW/W ATTORNEYS VApril 25, 1967 MASAAKI KOBAYASHI ETAL APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLYJOINING THE ENDS OF SLIVERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed NOV. 12, 1963INVENTURS M/JsnnKI HOBRYHSHI wwm United States Patent APPARATUS FORAUTOMATICALLY JOINING THE ENDS OF SLIVERS Masaaki Kobayashi andYoshikatsu Matsumoto, Itamishi, Japan, assignors to Nitto Boseki Co.,Ltd., Fukushima, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Nov. 12, 1963, Ser.No. 323,028 Claims priority, application Japan, Nov. 17, 1962, 37/50,722, 37/50,723, 37/ 50,724, 37/50,725 4 Claims. (Cl. 19-157) Thepresent invention relates to a method and apparatus for automaticallyjoining the ends of preceding slivers to the tips of succeeding freshslivers filled in sliver cans during an exchanging operation of suchsliver cans in an equipment such as a drawing frame or sliver lapmachine which reveices supply of fresh slivers from the sliver cans toapply draft thereto or effect doubling thereon.

According to prior methods of joining the ends of slivers, a large spacewas provided between an apparatus for delivering the slivers and anapparatus supplied by the slivers for applying draft thereto oreffecting doubling thereon, and a multiplicity of sliver cans weredisposed in the space. The sliver cans when filled up were carried tothe latter apparatus for manually joining the ends of the slivers toperform continuous supply. Heretofore, various improvements have beenmade to the sliver carrying methods and associated apparatus in order tosimplify the operation. For example, a plurality of cans are juxta posedin a successively transferable manner intermediate between bothapparatus so that slivers can be received therein on one side thereofand a plurality of the slivers are supplied in juxtaposed relation tothe succeeding apparatus from the other side thereof. Alternatively,both apparatus are disposed adjacent to each other and a predeterminednumber of sliver cans are automatically transferably placed to eliminatelabors involved in the carriage of the sliver cans. Although thesearrangements are a marked improvement when compared with the method ofdisposing a multiplicity of sliver cans and carrying them by hand, thesliver ends joining operation must be still manually performed and thesearrangements fail to accomplish automation of the spinning process andelimination of manual steps from such process. Thus, such priorimprovements have failed to make a great contribution towards reductionof manufacturing cost.

Therefore the primary object of the invention is to provide a method andapparatus by which the ends of preceding slivers can be automaticallyjoined to the tips of succeeding fresh slivers without relying uponmanual operations by operators.

The present invention provides an apparatus for effecting suction andguiding of slivers, holding and cutting of said slivers, and eliminationof cut-off tips by suction, which comprises an opening provided at oneend of each of a plurality of suction conduits and having the other endsthereof connected to a source of suction, a suction intercepting memberopenably disposed in or adjacent each of said openings for suitablyeffecting interception of suction of said slivers, and a sliverretaining member disposed outside of each of said suction interceptingmembers for catching or holding the sliver extending outwardly from thesurface of said suction intercepting member, said openings being adaptedto swingably move between a position adjacent cans filled with freshslivers to be joined and a position above preceding slivers. Ac-

Patented Apr. 25, 1967 cording to the invention, the slivers in the fullcans are sucked onto the surface of said suction intercepting members byan air stream and directly guided to the position above the precedingslivers. Then, each sliver extending from the surface of saidintercepting member is caught or held by the retaining member, andsubsequently the sliver s0 guided is cut by the movement of the means ofthe invention at a position between said means and a joining endgripping means so that the joining end of the fresh sliver of anapproximately definite length can be brought to a predetermined positionabove said gripping means without being bent, and a remaining tipportion after being out can be sucked away through said opening.

Or more precisely, the tip of the fresh sliver in each full can issucked up by means according to the invention utilizing the air stream.However, such tip of the fresh sliver is directly guided to the positionabove the preceding sliver as it is held by the means. In this case, thefresh sliver is gripped by the sliver end gripping means at a positionadjacent the end of preceding sliver for being cut at a substantiallength from the tip thereof, and thus the length and position of thejoining end of the fresh sliver can be suitably regulated for connectionwith the end of the preceding sliver. Thus, it will be apparent that thesliver end suction and guiding means of the invention having theretaining members incorporated therein is effective to make, in a singleaction, direct guide of the fresh slivers, cutting of the fresh sliversby the movement of the means itself, and elimination of the cut-off tipsby suction.

According to the invention, there is provided a method of joining theends of slivers in a spinning machine which reveices fresh slivers froma plurality of cans or from a plurality of can-like accommodation spacesbored in a large reservoir, comprising sucking said fresh slivers to besuccessively supplied out of said cans or said accommodation spaces bysliver end suction and guiding means utilizing an air stream, andguiding said fresh slivers to a position above preceding slivers foroverlapping the former on the latter.

According to the invention, there is also provided an apparatus forautomatically joining the ends of slivers in a drawing or drafting framewhich receives fresh slivers from a plurality of sliver cans or from aplurality of can like accommodation receptacles provided in a largereservoir, said cans or receptacles being arranged to be automaticallytransferred and replaced, said apparatus comprising sliver end cuttingmeans or sliver end stopping means for positioning at a suitableposition the ends of preceding slivers to be joined, and sliver endsuction and guiding means having a plurality of openings each providedwith a suction intercepting member for intercepting suction of the freshsliver thereinto and having opposite openings connected to a source ofsuction, said first openings being swingable between a position adjacentsaid full cans or accommodation spaces containing said fresh slivers tobe joined and a position adjacent the ends of said preceding slivers.

There are other objects and particularities of the invention which willbecome obvious from the following description with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an explanatory plan view showing a manner of replacing aplurality of sliver cans in a spinning system including an aparatusaccording to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the entire apparatus of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of portion of the apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of a tip portion of sliver end suctionand guiding means, with parts in section;

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of FIG. 4, with parts also insection;

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of the entire apparatus, with partsbroken away, and

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the entire apparatus, with parts alsobroken away.

In the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 shows one form of an arrangement ofthe invention wherein a predetermined number of sliver cans 5 areautomatically transferably disposed between an apparatus for deliveringthe slivers and an apparatus supplied by said slivers for applying draftor doubling so as to eliminate labors involved in the carriage of saidcans. In FIG. 1, a first drawing frame 3 receives slivers from aplurality of carding machines 1 and 1 by way of a belt conveyor 2 andapplies draft to the slivers by a plurality of pairs of rollers fordelivery into the sliver cans. The drawing frame 3 is provided with suchan automatic sliver can replacing function that, when the sliver of apredetermined length has been delivered into the sliver can, such slivercan5 is automatically replaced by an empty can as shown by arrow. Thefull sliver cans 5 automatically discharged from the first drawing frame3 are successively fed into line C one after another. Sliver cans inline B are supplying slivers to a second drawing frame 4. It is soarranged that, when the rate of production by the first drawing frame 3corresponds with that by the second drawing frame 4, eight cans filledwith slivers are aligned in the line C by the time when the sliver cansin the line B are emptied. When eight sliver cans have been aligned inthe line C and an auto-counter (not shown) associated with the seconddrawing frame 4 indicates that the sliver cans in the line B have beenemptied, the sliver cans in both of the lines C and B are simultaneouslymade to move in the lateral direction (in the upward direction indicatedby an arrow in FIG. 1) by a transfer rod 6, and the full sliver cans inthe line C are forced out into the line B, while the empty sliver cansin the line B are forced out into line A. Thus, simultaneous replacementof the sliver cans can be effected. The empty sliver cans in the line Aare successively fed into the first drawing frame 3 by feeding meanscooperating with the automatic replacing means of the first drawingframe 3. The apparatus of the invention is devised to perform theautomatic joining of the tips of slivers in full sliver cans to the endsof preceding slivers on a rear table 70 of the second drawing frame 4,in the arrangement of the kind described wherein the sliver cans areautomatically transferred and replaced.

As shown in FIG. 2, a suction conduit 38 is connected to a main duct 8for suction by means of a suction fan (not shown). The main duct 8 has aplurality of branch conduits 40 depending therefrom, and a series ofthese parts constitute a sliver end suction and guiding means. As shownin FIGS. 4 and S, the tip portion of each branch conduit 40 is formed asan opening 48 which has a rectangular configuration when viewed from thefront side and has a V-shaped configuration when viewed from the bottomside thereof. In FIGS. 4 and 5, a suction intercepting member 44 isprovided in the opening 48 so as to selectively allow a sliver 46 to besucked into the branch conduit 49 through the opening 48 or retain thesliver 45 at the intercepting member 44, that is, to suitably obstructthe passage of the sliver 46 through the opening 48 into the conduit44). The suction intercepting member 44 is controlled according to apredetermined program and is swingably opened or closed about a shaft 45by means of movement of a piston in an air cylinder 43 receiving highpressure air therein through copper conduits 41 and 42. The suctionintercepting member 44 may preferably take the form of grid bars, wiremeshes, perforated plate, or the like, but may be of any'type orstructure so long as it can effectively intercept the passage or suctionof the sliver therethrough. Needles 47 are provided to cut off the tipportion of the sliver, as will be described in detail in laterdescription.

From FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be seen that the main duct 8 having thebranch conduits 40 is rotatably supported by bearings 9 and 10, whichare vertically movably fitted in guide ways formed in frames 11 and 12,respectively. The bearings 9 and 10 are connected to chains 18 and 17 bypins 15 and 16 (shown in FIG. 6), and 13 and 14, respectively. Thechains 17 and 18 are in engagement with sprocket wheels 19 and 20 and 21and 22 (shown in FIG. 6), respectively. The sprocket wheels 19 and 21are secured adjacent both ends of a shaft 23, which is rotatablysupported by bearings 24 and 25. The sprocket wheel 20 has a worm wheel33 coupled thereto as shown in FIG. 6, and rotation is transmitted froma reversible motor 26, a motor pulley 27, a belt 28, a pulley 29, gears30 and 31, a worm 32 and the worm wheel 33. The reversible motor 26 canbe rotated in both the normal and reverse directions or may be stoppedin accordance with a predetermined program, and the main duct 8, hencethe sliver end suction and guiding means can be lifted or lowered by thechains 17 and 18 by the rotation of the reversible motor 26.

When the sliver end suction and guiding means is at its lowermostposition, the opening 48 of each branch conduit 40 is disposed oppositethe upper face of a sliver can 49 or at a position a few inches lowerthan the upper face of the sliver contained in the sliver can 49 asshown by thick lines in FIG. 3. When the sliver end suction and guidingmeans is lifted upwardly to such a height that the bottom face oftheopening 48 reaches a position approximately opposite the upper face of aback bottom lifting roller 51, hooks 34 and 36 firmly fixed to therespective ends of the main duct 8 are made to engage projections 35 and37 provided on the frames 11 and 12, respectively. Further lifting ofthe sliver end suction and guiding means after such engagement betweenthe .hooks and projections will cause the leftward rotation of thedevice about the axis of the main duct 8, and each opening 48 takes theposition as shown by imaginary lines in FIG. 3. In the downward movementof the sliver end suction and guiding means, the above operation isreversed. In this case, the main duct 8 rotates 'rightwards at firstuntil the branch conduits 40 take approximately the vertical positionand then starts to move downwardly. In other words, the openings 48 ofthe sliver end suction and guiding means make an inverse-L motion by thesingle action of the chains 17 and 1S driven by the reversible motor 26,and it is so arranged that the sliver end joining operation can beeffected by this inverse-L motion.

There are two pairs of lifting rollers for each branch conduit 40 asshown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 7. Bottom rollers 51 and 53 are formed byelongated rods, and the front bottom roller 53 receives driving powerfrom the second drawing frame 4.

The back bottom roller 51 is arranged for rotation through a doubleelectromagnetic clutch 61 of selective input type disposed on the sideof the second drawing frame 4. By suitably changing over said doubleclutch 61, rotation through a gear train including gears 55, 56 and 57from the front bottom roller 53, and rotation from a back rollerreversing motor 58 through a worm gear 59 and a worm wheel 60 (FIG. 7)can selectively be transmitted to the back bottom roller 51.

Under normal delivery of slivers, the electromagnetic clutch 61 ischanged over to a position so that the back bottom roller 51 receivesrotative power from the front bottom roller 53, hence the back bottomroller 51 rotates in the same direction with the front bottom roller 53.In this case, gear ratios of the gear train including the gears 55, 56and 57 are so selected that the peripheral velocity of the back bottomroller 51 is slightly lower than the peripheral velocity of the frontbottom roller 53, that is, a slight degree of tension draft can beobtained.

When, on the contrary, the electromagnetic clutch 61 is changed over toanother position so that the back bottom roller 51 receives rotativepower from the back roller reversing motor 58, the back bottom roller 51makes slow reverse rotation. In starting the sliver end joiningoperation, the second drawing frame 4 is stopped and the electromagneticclutch 61 is changed over to the position at which the back bottomroller 51 makes reverse rotation. At this time, the front bottom roller53 is not rotating. By the reverse rotation of the back roller 51,preceding slivers 62 can be simultaneously cut into the same length atthe same position between the rollers as will be described in detail inlater description.

There are provided front top rollers 54 and back top rollers 52 of thesame number with the number of the sliver cans. The front top rollers 54and back top rollers 52 can be pivotally urged upwardly away from therespective bottom rollers 53 and 51 independently of each other and in asimultaneous manner. Each of the top rollers 54 and 52 is rotatablymounted by means of a hearing or the like on a stud extending from oneend of a roller bracket 63. The other end of each bracket 63 extendsrightwards and downwardly as shown in FIG. 6. Top roller releasing rods64 and 65 are disposed below the brackets 63 and received at one end inair cylinders 66 and 67 suitably controlled by high pressure air,respectively. The rods 64 and 65 are provided with hooks 68 at positionscorresponding to extensions 69 of the brackets 63 so that, by theleftward movement of the rods 64 and 65 by the action of the aircylinders, the hooks 68 urge the corresponding extensions 69 of thebrackets 63 to pivotally force the top rollers 52 and 54 n'ghtwards awayfrom the bottom rollers 51 and 53. A projection is suitably pro vided oneach extension 69 so that the projection is abutted by the table 70during the pivotal movement of the top rollers to thereby limit thepivotal movement of the top rollers 52 and 54 at an angle slightly lessthan 90 with respect to the surfaces of the bottom rollers 51 and 53.When, therefore, the rods 64 and 65 are moved rightwards in theirreturning strokes, the top rollers 52 and 54 swing leftwards by theirown weight to take their original abutting relation with the bottomrollers. The top roller releasing rod 64 and associated air cylinder 66are operable independently of the top roller releasing rod 65 andassociated air cylinder 67 in order to release the back rollers 52independently of the front rollers 54. Further, the top rollers 52 and54 can freely be released from the bottom rollers by hand and swung openupwardly since the left hand sides of the extensions 69 of the brackets63 are not in abutment with the books 68.

One sliver guide 71 is provided on the table 70 to guide each sliver 73fed past each set of the bottom and top rollers 53, 51, 54 and 52 tothereby arrange the slivers 73 in juxtaposition with one another. Guiderollers for insuring smooth feed of the slivers 73 towards the seconddrawing frame 4 comprise pairs of top rollers 72 and bottoms rollers 74,and there are the same number of pairs with the slivers 73, or eightpairs of them in the embodiment shown. The pairs of guide rollers 72 and74 disposed closer to the delivery side are successively made greater inlength so that they can extend across the entire width occupied by thewhole slivers 73. The bottom rollers 74 are supported by bearings 75 and76, and driven by a driving shaft of a feed roller 77 through bevelgears 81 and 82, universal joints 78 and 79, and a guide roller drivingshaft 80. Although the guide rollers 72 are employed in this embodiment,it will be understood that any other means such as a conveyor may beused provided that it can transfer the slivers without any obstruction.

The apparatus according to the invention operates in the followingmanner. When the second drawing frame 4 is in operation, the lifting toprollers 52 and 54 rotate on the respective cooperating bottom rollers 51and 53. As the bottom rollers 51 and 53 rotate, the slivers are drawnout of the sliver cans in the line B (FIG. 1) through sliver guides 83and fed through the guides 71 to the guide rollers 72, thence to thesecond drawing frame 4 through the feed rollers 77. During thisoperation, the back bottom lifting roller 51 receives the rotative powerfrom the front roller 53 through the electromagnetic clutch 61, andgears 55, 56 and 57, thus rotating in the same direction with the frontroller 53. In this case, the sliver end suction and guiding means takesan upper position and is disposed above the table 70 as shown byimaginary lines in FIG. 3.

While, on the delivery side of the second drawing frame 4, there is alength measuring instrument which is associated with calender rolls.After a sliver of a predetermined length has been delivered, electricalcontacts in the instrument are actuated to issue a signal whereby thesliver can on the delivery side thereof can be automatically exchangedfor another. In addition to the above instrument, there is provided aregister with electrical contacts for integrating the number of exchangeof the sliver cans, which register is adapted to issue a signal toautomatically stop the second drawing frame 4 after a predeterminednumber of sliver cans have been filled and exchanged. Proper adjustmentis made between the capacity of the sliver cans on the supply side andthe capacity of one sliver can on the delivery side multiplied by thenumber of exchange thereof so that the sliver cans on the supply sidecan be nearly emptied when the register has integrated the predeterminednumber of exchange to issue the signal. Since, further, the amount ofproduction by the first drawing frame 3 is almost equal to that by thesecond drawing frame 4 as described above, it will be apparent thateight sliver cans have almost been lined up in the line C in FIG. 1.(Accurately speaking, the amount of production by the first drawingframe 3 is slightly greater than that of the second drawing frame 4, andthe balance will remain in the sliver cans on the supply side.) Afterthe register has counted the predetermined number of exchange and eightfull sliver cans have been lined up in the line C, an electrical means(not shown) sensing the above situation is actuated to permit the flowof current in a synchronous motor incorporated in a time programmer (notshown), and the sliver end joining operation is automatically started.Said time programmer is operable to successively open and closeelectrical contacts by cams rotated by the synchronous motor to therebyissue required signals.

At first, the back lifting roller reversing motor 58 is started whilethe second drawing frame 4 is held in its stopped state. Then, theelectromagnetic clutch 61 is disconnected from the front lifting roller53, and so coupled as to transmit the power from the reversing motor 58to the back lifting roller 51. The back lifting rollers 51 and 52 startto slowly rotate in the reverse direction. Since the front liftingrollers 53 and 54 are held from rotation, the slivers 6-2 lying betweenthe back and front rollers are stretched and finally cut off. Theslivers thus cut off fall down into the sliver cans in the line B whichare now empty. Thus it will be known that the ends of the slivers heldbetween the front lifting rollers 53 and 54 are cut off at the sameposition and with the same length, and line up in an orderly manner inplace. Then, the clutch 61 is changed over to the front roller side,while the back lifting rollers 51 and 52 cease reverse rotation and theroller reversing motor 58 is deenergized. During this time, the timeprogrammer acts to reset the register for the delivered sliver cans inthe second drawing frame 4.

Subsequently, current is made to flow through an electric motor (notshown) for driving the sliver can transfer rod 6, which therefore makesa reciprocatory movement to force the full sliver cans in the line Cinto the line B and the empty sliver cans in the line B into the line Afor simultaneous replacement of the sliver cans. In the full sliver canslined up in the line B, the tip of sliver 46 contained in each can 49 ismade to droop downwardly by a length of a few inches from the upper faceof the sliver can 49 or from the upper face of sliver overflowing fromthe sliver can 49 as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 6. The time programmerenergizes electromagnetic valves (not shown) for controlling highpressure air to the air cylinders 66 and 67 to permit flow of the highpressure air into the air cylinders. The air cylinder 67 pulls the rod65 towards it to pivotally urge the front top rollers 54 away from thebottom roller 53, while the air cylinder 66 also pulls the rod 64towards it to pivotally urge the back top roller 52 away from the bottomroller 51. Then, the electric motor 26 is energized, by which the sliverend suction and guiding means starts to move downwardly. Simultaneouslywith this downward movement of said means, the suction interceptingmember 44 in each opening 48 is closed by the action of the associatedair cylinder 43.

When the sliver end suction and guiding means is lowered to the positionas shown by solid lines in FIG. 3, a suction fan (not shown) is startedand aspirates from the openings 48 through the suction conduit 38, mainduct 8 and branch conduits 40. Each sliver 46 is sucked into the opening48 by the suction, but is prevented from further advance into theopening 48 by the suction intercepting member 44, and accumulates infront of the intercepting member 44. This accumulation of the sliver 46on the front face of the intercepting member 44 is one layer atmost, andthis will by no means result in the accumulation of excess sliver due toreduction of the aspirating power in the vicinity of the opening 48.Since, further, the opening 48 has a width of a few inches, a slighterror in the drooping direction of the sliver tip from the sliver canmay be allowable. Then, reverse current is made to flow through thelifting motor 26 and the sliver end suction and guiding means starts tomove upwardly.

As the main duct 8 moves further upwardly, the slivers 46 are pulledupwardly by being sucked and caught by the sliver end suction andguiding means. As the sliver end suction and guiding means swingsleftwards in FIG. 3, each sliver 46 is centered by the V-shaped guide atthe bottom portion of the associated opening 48 and by the sliver guide83 of substantially Y-shaped structure, drooping onto the upper face ofthe back bottom lifting roller 51 and being positioned right above theend of the preceding sliver 62. When the openings 48 of the sliver endsuction and guiding means reach approximately above the front bottomlifting roller 53, the air cylinder 66 is actuated to pivotally urge theback top lifting roller 52 towards the bottom roller 51 to hold theslivers 46 therebetween. The sliver end suction and guiding means stillcontinues its leftward swinging movement, but the slivers 46 are firmlyheld between the back lifting rollers 51 and 52 which are held fromrotation, and prevented from advancing any further. Therefore, eachsliver 46 accumulating on the front face of the suction interceptingmember 44 (FIG. 4) will be pulled outwardly through the valley portionof the V-shaped guide of the opening 48.

However, a plurality of needles 47 are embedded into the valley portionof the V-shaped guide of each opening 48 in slightly forwardly inclinedrelation thereto as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Therefore, the sliver 46 isretained by the needles 47 and prevented from being drawn outwardly.Each sliver '46 accordingly is stretched between the needles 47 and theengaging face of the back lifting rollers 51 and 52, thus all theslivers 46 are simultaneously cut off at a position approximateintermediate between these members. As the sliver end suction andguiding means further continues its leftward movement until finally ittakes the original position, the air cylinders 43 are actuated tosimultaneously open the suction intercepting members 44, and the tipportions 46 cut oft" from the slivers 46 and accumulating on the frontfaces of the suction intercepting members 44 including the portionsretained by the needles 47 are sucked into the branch conduits 40 by theaspirating power of the suction fan (not shown) and discharged into areusing cotton reservoir (not shown) by way of the main duct 8.

On the other hand, each sliver 46, which has been previously cut offbetween the sliver end suction and guiding means and the back liftingrollers 51 and 52, and held between the back lifting rollers 51 and 52,is disposed at a position right above and nearly aligned with the end ofthe preceding sliver 6-2. Then, when the front top lifting rollers 54are made to simultaneously swing downwardly towards the bottom roller 53by the air cylinder 67, the slivers 46 which are directed slightlyupwardly due to their own rigidity are thereby forced and overlappedonto the respective preceding slivers 62, and thus the sliver joiningoperation is completed.

In the above-described case, arrangement has been made so that eachsuction intercepting member 44 is pivotally openable about the shaft 45,and each sliver 46 is cut into a'definite length between the needles 47and the back lifting rollers 51 and 52. However, arrangement may be suchthat each sliver 46 sucked onto and caught by the suction interceptingmember 44 is made to move to a position right above the preceding sliver62 without being cut off, the suction then being interrupted, and theend of the sliver 46 may be overlapped on the preceding sliver 62 toeffect the sliver joining operation.

At the completion of the sliver joining operation, the timer is againactuated to' stop the suction fan (not shown) and to start the seconddrawing frame 4 for delivering the slivers including the joint portions.Various difficulties may generally be encountered when the jointportions are fed past a draft :means or a trumpet if such joints aredefective. However, in the slivers joined by the apparatus of theinvention, such prior ditficulties can be completely eliminated sincethe joints of satisfactory state can be obtained and knots formed in thejoints can be made sufiiciently small. Continuous delivery of theslivers is feasible by virtue of the satisfactory joints, and thesejoint portions may be used in the succeeding process. In the embodimentshown, however, a plurality of the slivers are joined at the same time,and the respective joints are disposed in an extremely short range.Therefore, these portions alone may be delivered once into sliver cansfor separation from normal slivers.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for automatically joining the ends of slivers in aspinning machine which receives fresh slivers from a plurality ofsubstantially can-like members provided in a large reservoir, saidcan-like members being arranged to be automatically transferred andreplaced, said apparatus comprising conduit means one end of which isopen, and for-ms a sliver end holding means for positioning at asuitable position the ends of the slivers to be joined to the ends ofthe slivers in the spinning machine, suction means connected to theother end of said conduit means, a suction intercepting member disposedwithin said open end for intercepting the drawing in of the freshsliver, and means for imparting to said open end of said conduit meansan inverted L-shapcd movement between an initial position adjacent theside of said can-like members containing fresh slivers to be joined anda second position adjacent the ends of the slivers in the spinningmachine, said means for imparting movement comprising means to liftupwardly the open end of said conduit until it clears said can-likemembers, abutment means, means secured to said conduit engaging saidabutment means for imparting a rotational move ment to said conduit tocomplete said inverted L-shaped movement by moving said open end to aposition adjacent the ends of the slivers in the spinning machine.

2. A conduit means for use in an apparatus for automatically joining theends of slivers in a spinning machine according to claim 1 wherein saidconduit means comprises a main conduit, a plurality of parallellydisposed branch conduits depending from said main conduit, said sourceof suction connected to said main conduit, the free end of each saidbranch conduit terminating at an open end, said suction interceptingmember operatively disposed within said opening to selectively allow asliver to be sucked into said branch conduit.

3. A suction and guiding means according to claim 2 wherein means forcutting said slivers are disposed Within said opening adjacent saidsuction intercepting means.

4. A sucton and guiding means according to claim 2 wherein said suctionintercepting means comprises a plurality of grid bars selectivelypositioned according to a predetermined sequence.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS MERVIN STEIN,Primary Examiner.

DONALD W. PARKER, D. NEWTON,

Assistant Examiners.

1. AN APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY JOINING THE ENDS OF SLIVERS IN A SPINNING MACHINE WHICH RECEIVES FRESH SLIVERS FROM A PLURALITY OF SUBSTANTIALLY CAN-LIKE MEMBERS PROVIDED IN A LARGE RESERVOIR, SAID CAN-LIKE MEMBERS BEING ARRANGED TO BE AUTOMATICALLY TRANSFERRED AND REPLACED, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING CONDUIT MEANS ONE END OF WHICH IS OPEN, AND FORMS A SLIVER END HOLDING MEANS FOR POSITIONING AT A SUITABLE POSITION THE ENDS OF THE SLIVERS TO BE JOINED TO THE ENDS OF THE SLIVERS IN THE SPINNING MACHINE, SUCTION MEANS CONNECTED TO THE OTHER END OF SAID CONDUIT MEANS, A SUCTION INTERCEPTING MEMBER DISPOSED WITHIN SAID OPEN END FOR INTERCEPTING THE DRAWING IN OF THE FRESH SLIVER, AND MEANS FOR IMPARTING TO SAID OPEN END OF SAID CONDUIT MEANS AN INVERTED L-SHAPED MOVEMENT BETWEEN AN INITIAL POSITION ADJACENT THE SIDE OF SAID CAN-LIKE MEMBERS CONTAINING FRESH SLIVERS TO BE JOINED AND A SECOND POSITION ADJACENT THE ENDS OF THE SLIVERS IN THE SPINNING MACHINE, SAID MEANS FOR IMPARTING MOVEMENT COMPRISING MEANS TO LIFT UPWARDLY THE OPEN END OF SAID CONDUIT UNTIL IT CLEARS SAID CAN-LIKE MEMBERS, ABUTMENT MEANS, MEANS SECURED TO SAID CONDUIT ENGAGING SAID ABUTMENT MEANS FOR IMPARTING A ROTATIONAL MOVEMENT TO SAID CONDUIT TO COMPLETE SAID INVERTED L-SHAPED MOVEMENT BY MOVING SAID OPEN END TO A POSITION ADJACENT THE ENDS OF THE SLIVERS IN THE SPINNING MACHINE. 